Spider-Man 3 Tix, Not Bootlegs, Going Fast

Tue., Apr. 24, 2007 6:59 PM PDT by Natalie Finn

According to Sony, all is quiet on the web-strewn front.

Moving to nip rumors of rampant Spider-Man 3 piracy in the bud, Sony Pictures Entertainment said in a statement Tuesday that, contrary to reports that bootleg copies of the surefire summer blockbuster are for sale on the streets of China, the studio's investigation has turned up "no case of the film being pirated to date."

"Similar hoaxes and false alarms have occurred prior to the release of other major films," the statement continued. "We have uncovered examples of Spider-Man 2 being sold in Spider-Man 3 boxes in China. But thus far we can find no instance where Spider-Man 3 has appeared on DVD."

No copies have turned up on the Internet, either, the studio said. "This incident underscores one of the problems with piracy—people who buy illegal movies often get ripped off themselves."

Earlier this week, news reports from Beijing were saying that copies of the latest addition to the superhero saga were selling for $1 at local street bazaars.

But the real good news, in addition to the discovery that illegal activity that could cost Sony billions of dollars is at a minimum so far, is that law-abiding Spidey fans are happy to fork over plenty for the real deal, which hits theaters May 4.

Online ticket retailers such as movietickets.com and Fandango are reporting that advance sales for Spider-Man 3 are piling up faster than either of the first two films in the franchise, which collectively have grossed more than $1.6 billion worldwide.

Movietickets.com said that the sequel is selling at three times the rate of Spider-Man 2, the third-highest grossing film of 2004, and is on track to "beat all expectations."

Meanwhile, tickets are moving four times as fast on Fandango.com and, as of early Monday, had accounted for 47 percent of the day's sales. (Fandango and E! Networks are both owned by Comcast.)

Spider-Man 3 had its world premiere last week in Tokyo and will unspool for the first time in the United States Apr. 30 at the Tribeca Film Festival.

And Sony should enjoy it all while it lasts because the franchise is in danger of losing both its star and its visionary.

While Tobey Maguire has said that he's not sure if he would want to suit up for a fourth installment (apparently he wins his battle against the dark side in part three), director Sam Raimi told Entertainment Weekly that he'd love to fill in for Peter Jackson and helm The Hobbit, should the Lord of the Rings filmmaker be unavailable to delve into the mind of J.R.R. Tolkien yet again.